Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti with Pope Francis / Vatican MediaRome Newsroom, Nov 22, 2022 / 08:10 am (CNA).For the role of prefect of the Dicastery for the Oriental Churches, Pope Francis has chosen Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, who since 2020 was nuncio to the United Kingdom.The Italian prelate s diplomatic career came about somewhat "by accident."As a specialist in Eastern liturgy and a fluent Russian and Armenian speaker, Gugerotti arrived in Rome to serve in the Congregation of Oriental Churches, where he had served as undersecretary before starting his career as "ambassador of the pope."His recent appointment came as a bit of a surprise, given Vatican rumors were convinced that Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, 79 years old and head of the dicastery since 2007, would remain the prefect until he was 80. As a possible substitute, there was talk of Cardinal Dominique Mamberti, a longtime diplomat and former Vatican "foreign minister," who is now p
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Belarusian government orders evacuation of an iconic Catholic church in the center of Minsk that gave sanctuary to demonstrators in late 2020 during protests against the regime
The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Moscow, Russia. / Maxim Apryatin via Shutterstock.Rome Newsroom, Mar 24, 2022 / 09:15 am (CNA).More than 15 years before Our Lady of Fatima asked for the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, construction began in Moscow on a cathedral dedicated to the Immaculate Conception. It was to be the largest Catholic cathedral in Russia.The neo-Gothic cathedral was built before the Russian Revolution with a design by Foma Bogdanovich-Dvorzhetsky, an architect who had trained at the Imperial Academy of the Arts inaugurated by Catherine the Great.At the time, Moscow s Catholic minority population numbered more than 30,000, which exceeded the capacity of the city s two existing Catholic churches.Construction began in 1901 and lasted for 10 years until the church was consecrated on December 21, 1911, in the name of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.Father Mikhail Tsakul was the cathedral s first rector. He ca.